Head of Regulatory Reporting

Head of Regulatory Reporting Recruitment

A Head of Regulatory Reporting is the senior finance or compliance professional responsible for the production, accuracy, and timely submission of all mandatory regulatory returns made by a financial services firm to its regulators. In the UK, this means submissions to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and for dual-regulated firms, to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) as well. The regulatory reporting function sits at the intersection of finance, risk, compliance, and technology — requiring a professional who understands the accounting and risk measurement disciplines that underpin the returns, the regulatory frameworks that mandate them, and the data infrastructure and systems that produce them.

Regulatory reporting failures — late submissions, material errors, or omissions — attract supervisory attention from the FCA and PRA, can trigger formal enforcement action, and damage the firm’s regulatory relationship at exactly the moments when it matters most. The Head of Regulatory Reporting is the individual who owns the risk of those failures and the operational programme that prevents them.

FD Capital recruits Heads of Regulatory Reporting and senior regulatory reporting professionals for FCA-regulated and PRA-regulated firms across all financial services sub-sectors. Call 020 3287 9501 or email recruitment@fdcapital.co.uk to discuss a regulatory reporting leadership requirement.

What the Head of Regulatory Reporting Does: Key Responsibilities

Regulatory return production and submission

• Owning the end-to-end production of all mandatory regulatory returns — ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timely submission to the FCA’s GABRIEL reporting system and the PRA’s BEEDS system where applicable
• Managing COREP (Common Reporting) returns under CRD IV/CRR — own funds, capital requirements by risk type, leverage ratio, and large exposures — and FINREP (Financial Reporting) submissions for significant banking groups
• Overseeing MiFIR transaction reporting under RTS 22 — ensuring all reportable transactions are submitted to an Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM) accurately within T+1, and that instrument reference data under RTS 23 is maintained
• Managing UK EMIR trade reporting obligations — overseeing derivative trade data submissions to a registered Trade Repository, including compliance with the September 2024 EMIR Refit changes (ISO 20022 XML format, expanded data fields)
• For banks: overseeing liquidity reporting including FSA047/FSA048, LCR, NSFR, and ILAAP documentation; for investment managers: AIFMD Annex IV returns and UCITS reporting; for insurers: Solvency II QRTs, SFCR, and RSR to the PRA
• Managing MIFIDPRU reporting for investment firms subject to the FCA’s Investment Firms Prudential Regime — including K-factor calculations and associated templates introduced in January 2022

Data governance and controls

• Maintaining a robust data governance framework ensuring the integrity and accuracy of data inputs to regulatory returns — working with finance, risk, and IT to identify and resolve data quality issues at source
• Implementing and maintaining a regulatory reporting controls framework — four-eyes review, reconciliations between regulatory returns and management accounts, automated exception reporting
• Maintaining a comprehensive regulatory reporting policy and procedures manual — ensuring production processes are documented, repeatable, and resilient to personnel changes
• Managing the regulatory reporting calendar across the full suite of submissions — ensuring the firm has adequate capacity and lead time for every deadline
• Overseeing XBRL tagging and validation of returns submitted in structured data format through GABRIEL

Regulatory change management

• Monitoring FCA and PRA reporting developments — consultations, policy statements, updated supervisory reporting requirements — and ensuring systems and processes are updated before new requirements take effect
• Leading or contributing to the firm’s responses to FCA/PRA supervisory queries about its regulatory returns, providing clear explanations of material movements and managing correction submissions
• Engaging with industry bodies including UK Finance regulatory reporting working groups to stay ahead of planned regulatory changes

Team management and stakeholder engagement

• Managing the regulatory reporting team — regulatory reporting analysts and managers with specialist expertise in specific regimes — ensuring skills, tools, and capacity meet obligations
• Working closely with the CFO, CRO, and CCO to ensure regulatory reporting integrates with the firm’s financial management, risk management, and compliance functions
• Presenting to the Audit Committee and Board as required on material errors, near-misses, and overall regulatory reporting performance

Regulatory Reporting Regimes: UK Overview

The UK regulatory reporting landscape has evolved significantly since Brexit, with the FCA and PRA having onshored EU reporting frameworks with UK-specific modifications. The principal regimes the Head of Regulatory Reporting manages include:

COREP and FINREP — Capital adequacy and financial reporting for banks and large investment firms under CRD IV/CRR (and CRD V/CRR II). COREP covers own funds, risk-weighted asset calculations, leverage, and large exposures. FINREP covers IFRS-based financial statements in standardised format for banking groups.

MIFIDPRU — The FCA’s Investment Firms Prudential Regime replaced CRD IV for most UK investment firms in January 2022. MIFIDPRU introduced K-factor based capital requirements and a new set of reporting templates. Any Head of Regulatory Reporting joining an investment firm must understand the MIFIDPRU framework.

MiFIR transaction reporting — Approximately 65-field reports for every reportable transaction, submitted within one business day to an ARM or directly to the FCA. Transaction reporting is a frequent source of FCA supervisory attention. The EBA’s RTS 22 data standards apply on a UK basis post-Brexit with some divergences.

UK EMIR trade reporting — All derivative contracts must be reported to a UK Trade Repository. The September 2024 EMIR Refit introduced ISO 20022 XML format, expanded data fields, and tighter reconciliation standards. Firms that have not fully implemented Refit face systematic reporting gaps.

AIFMD Annex IV — Alternative investment fund managers report to the FCA under the onshored UK AIFMD. Annex IV reporting covers portfolio, liquidity, leverage, and risk data for each AIF managed. Frequency varies from quarterly to annually depending on fund size and leverage.

Solvency II / PRA insurance reporting — PRA-regulated insurers submit quarterly and annual Quantitative Reporting Templates (QRTs), the Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR) publicly, and the Regular Supervisory Report (RSR) to the PRA. These require the Head of Regulatory Reporting to work closely with the actuarial and risk functions.

The Head of Regulatory Reporting Profile: What to Look For

Specific regulatory regime experience

The most important criterion — and the one most commonly underweighted in generalist recruitment searches. A candidate with strong COREP experience at a bank is not automatically equipped to manage MiFIR transaction reporting at an investment manager or AIFMD Annex IV reporting at a fund manager. FD Capital assesses every candidate specifically against the reporting regimes the hiring firm operates under.

Technical accounting and financial reporting foundation

Most regulatory returns draw on the firm’s financial accounts or risk model outputs. The Head of Regulatory Reporting must understand IFRS and UK GAAP well enough to sense-check financial data inputs and identify discrepancies. A professional accounting qualification — ACA from the ICAEW, ACCA, or CIMA — is common at this level, though some come from a risk or quantitative background and develop their accounting knowledge in role.

Data management and systems capability

Regulatory reporting is fundamentally a data management challenge. Experience with regulatory reporting platforms — Vermeg, Wolters Kluwer OneSumX, Axiom, or equivalent — is valuable. Advanced Excel is standard; SQL and data querying capability are increasingly expected at senior levels. Understanding how data flows from source systems through to submission is a prerequisite for managing the controls framework.

Regulatory change management

EMIR Refit, MIFIDPRU, the FCA’s new consumer duty reporting requirements, and ongoing updates to GABRIEL templates mean the regulatory reporting function is never static. Demonstrated experience of managing major regulatory change programmes — including system changes, parallel runs, and testing — is essential.

Regulator engagement

The ability to engage the FCA and PRA constructively on reporting queries, correction submissions, and — in more serious situations — voluntary disclosure of reporting errors is a skill that distinguishes experienced practitioners. The FCA’s response to a self-identified and proactively disclosed error is materially different from its response to an error it discovers itself.

How the Head of Regulatory Reporting Relates to the CFO, CRO, and CCO

The Head of Regulatory Reporting typically reports to the CFO — and in some firms to the CRO — and sits at the intersection of three functions whose outputs feed into regulatory submissions.

The CFO carries ultimate accountability for the accuracy and timeliness of regulatory submissions and depends on the Head of Regulatory Reporting to escalate issues early. See our banking CFO, investment management CFO, and insurance CFO pages.

The CRO provides risk data inputs including capital calculations, risk weights, and stress test outputs. The Head of Regulatory Reporting must ensure that regulatory returns accurately reflect the risk model outputs. See our CRO recruitment page.

The CCO provides oversight that the firm’s reporting obligations are being met, and the Head of Regulatory Reporting works with the CCO to manage disclosure obligations when errors arise. See our CCO recruitment page.

Head of Regulatory Reporting: Salary Benchmarks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Head of Regulatory Reporting an SMCR Senior Manager Function?

Not typically. Regulatory reporting is most commonly a Certified Function under SMCR rather than an SMF — subject to the Conduct Rules and the annual fitness and propriety assessment, but without the direct personal accountability obligations of an SMF holder. In some Enhanced firms the regulatory reporting function may be allocated within the SMF2 (Chief Finance Function) or SMF4 (Chief Risk Function). See our SMCR compliance recruitment page for the Senior Manager Function context.

How urgent is EMIR Refit compliance?

The UK EMIR Refit changes took effect September 2024. Firms that have not fully implemented the new ISO 20022 XML format and expanded data fields are at risk of systematic reporting errors across their derivatives books. The FCA is actively reviewing firms’ Refit implementations. If you need interim or permanent regulatory reporting leadership specifically for EMIR Refit, call 020 3287 9501 directly — we can shortlist candidates with specific Refit experience within 48 hours.

What is the difference between regulatory reporting and financial reporting?

Financial reporting — statutory accounts, management accounts, IFRS statements — is owned by the CFO and the finance function. Regulatory reporting uses financial and risk data to produce mandatory returns in standardised formats required by regulators. Regulatory returns typically require additional data — risk weightings, capital calculations, instrument classifications, counterparty identifiers — that goes beyond the statutory accounts. Some firms combine both functions; others maintain them separately. The Head of Regulatory Reporting must be able to reconcile between the two to ensure consistency.

Can FD Capital place an interim Head of Regulatory Reporting?

Yes — and interim regulatory reporting appointments are relatively common for firms facing unexpected leadership gaps or requiring additional capacity during a major regulatory change programme. FD Capital’s network includes interim regulatory reporting professionals with specific COREP, MiFIR, EMIR Refit, AIFMD, and Solvency II experience who are available at short notice. Call 020 3287 9501 or email recruitment@fdcapital.co.uk.

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